Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

I don’t have a problem with players showing emotion.

After what appears to now be a routine road loss against the Sabres, there was a camera shot of Connor McDavid yelling at the bench. Some speculated he may’ve been shouting at Kris Knoblauch or any other coaching staff member for not calling a timeout when nearing the endgame horn and down by a goal. Remember two weeks ago, Leon Draisaitl left the ice, slamming the bench door after a road loss, and looked like he was yelling at a teammate. You know what I say to that? Good, players shouldn’t be okay with bad losses. This team has been winning fewer games lately. Can you blame them for being frustrated? They’re not scoring enough goals, they’re not defending well enough, and they’re not getting enough saves. We wouldn’t wear dumb grins on our faces either if that were us. Last season, some people made note of Draisaitl exchanging words with Evander Kane, believing there may’ve been issues. Hockey’s an intense sport; you should expect teammates to communicate. They also don’t have to agree on everything, as long as they channel their disagreements on the ice and it doesn’t take them away from their gameplan.

While I pinned some of the current issues with the Oilers on perhaps Trade Deadline anxiety, they also always have a tendency of waiting until closer to the Playoffs before they commit to playing 100%. This can be both a good and bad thing, depending on your perspective. It means you save your energy for the games that truly matter in a long season. It also means you risk losing too many games that you can’t give yourself a better position in the standings to increase your chances of better postseason results. If they played Game 7 at home last year, the Cup would’ve been theirs. But you don’t know what you’re getting from them on a game-by-game basis, and it’s an emotional roller coaster for fans on social media. I read an article a couple of days ago saying that some players on the team weren’t too happy with Derek Ryan (remember him?) being sent down to Bakersfield. The NHL is still a business, but we sometimes forget how tight a locker room this team had the last few years. Starting this season with a lot of newer faces was a lot to take in. With Max Jones and Jake Walman knowing some players on the team personally, it’s possible Stan Bowman and Jeff Jackson tried bringing some of that comradery back.

Three games left on the road trip. Edmonton already blew what should’ve been an easy 2 points and are looking at a tougher 2 points tonight. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Notes:

Hu(ghes)ge Loss: The New Jersey Devils are still a good hockey team, but losing their star player, Jack Hughes, for the remainder of the season could really hurt them in the Playoffs. Any time that Nico Hischier is off the ice, the Oilers should use their center depth to their advantage. It’s games like this where I want to see McDavid-Draisaitl-Nugent-Hopkins all down the middle. One can dream, can’t they?

He’s Such A Bratt: With the aforementioned Jack Hughes injury, Jesper Bratt is the new point producer to carry the load offensively for New Jersey. He already leads the Devils in points with 73. Though Bratt’s production in March has been on and off, the way our team’s goalies have looked recently doesn’t make me confident that he’ll be shut down all night.

Puck Control: I know we’ve all been ripping on Evan Bouchard for the game-winning goal against on Monday, and it’s not his first rodeo. But Vasily Podkolzin was responsible for a bad giveaway in the offensive zone leading up to the play. Shots on goal are going to happen, but don’t make scoring chances that easy since we’re losing trust in our goalies with facing a single shot.